Fodor's may use your email address to send you relevant information on site updates, account changes, and offers. For more information about your privacy and protection, please review our full Privacy Policy.

That's the question -- does my husband need to bring a jacket & tie? Since we'd like to travel light, and we're going to be in Vietnam for 2 weeks after spending 3 days in HK he'd like to avoid having to bring a jacket if he doesn't have to. I'd like to be able to just wear a nice pair of pants & maybe a lightweight sweater set, rather than something fancier. We'll be there in February. We're from the East Coast US, so the HK weather in Feb seems mild to us.

At the very highest-end, typically French, restaurants such as Petrus or Gaddi's, jackets are mandatory. These places are often in hotels (in these cases, Shang & Pen), and typically the same hotels will also have other very good restaurants where the dress code is less rigorous -- for example, Nadaman at the Shangri-La or Felix at the Peninsula.

At top end Chinese restaurant (Hutong or Shang Palace, for example), I don't recall jackets being required.

In most upscale places "smart casual" is the rule. (Whatever that means.)

The jacket/tie requirement is case by case. It's rare in Hong Kong now, but the old guard still observes.

Two other random requirements I encountered when I used to entertain clients in Hong Kong were no sportshoes (like running shoes) and no collarless shirts (like T-shirts), both of which are worn fairly commonly at casual occasions in the US.

Also, the aircon in Hong Kong is ARCTIC, even in February. Take a sweater or a shawl.